It is now time to switch to a new Money AM football blog as the world cup is now over and we all look to the future.....World cup 2010 is over, Bravo Espana, and Forlan, once again and bring on the new season !.....I never expected the last thread to be such a success...thanks all.... so this new one might go on for years without the need to edit the title...we shall see...

Jimmy Greaves suffers a severe stroke

http://http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32580282

Jimmy Greaves the goal machine behind Spurs glory game as public show outpouring of support after stroke
The joy brought by England and Tottenham forward to so many explains why there is such passionate support for his latest fight after stroke


The outpouring of support for Jimmy Greaves, following his admission to intensive care after a severe stroke, flows from heartfelt reverence for one of the greatest strikers ever to place a ball past a wrong-footed keeper, for memories of his entertaining television appearances, and also respect for a truly likeable man contending with some of life’s brutal blows.
At 20, Greaves lost his first son, Jimmy Junior, to pneumonia when the poor boy had reached only four months of age. Greaves never sought sympathy for what happened at the World Cup six years later, a personal heartache that became part of the national football curriculum when he suffered that gashed leg against France and saw Geoff Hurst become England’s leading light. It could have been him. For the alcoholism blurring much of the Seventies, Greaves blamed only himself, and a genetic frailty.


Images of Greaves in his playing pomp, with his “let’s go to work” aura, lean physique and swept-back hair contrast with the more recent ruddy‑faced perception. For too long, Greaves has been depicted as a slightly sad figure, shuffling around the after‑dinner circuit, when his contribution to the football canon of this country should be celebrated extensively, not chronicled with “if only” subtext.
Sometimes it takes moments like Monday’s, and the distressing news released by his family, to focus the mind on the 75-year-old’s astonishing achievements in the game. Modern hipsters obsessed with statistics should gorge on these numbers: Greaves scored 422 goals in 602 games (including the Charity Shield) for Chelsea, AC Milan, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, becoming the First Division’s leading scorer six times.


He recorded a goal every 117 minutes for England (44 in 57 internationals). Even the fabled trio ahead of Greaves in the national charts cannot be deemed more clinical: Wayne Rooney (47 in 103), Gary Lineker (48 in 80) or Sir Bobby Charlton (49 in 106).
Such figures alone, let alone his contribution to Sir Alf Ramsey’s side reaching the knockout stage of the World Cup, guarantee legendary status.


Yet some just associate Greaves with the drinking, the post-career television partnership with Ian St John, the pithy tabloid columns and the laugh-along cabarets with Pat Jennings, the Saint, Ron “Chopper” Harris (his most feared foe) and in a poignant double act for a period with George Best.
Some perspective is both in order and timely. Even slightly below-par, Greaves would stroll into any current Premier League side, would walk into the England team. He was a sure-footed forward who kept his balance and composure on rutted surfaces against cynical opponents willingly out to maim. Hello Chopper. Hello Norman Hunter.


At his best, particularly in the lilywhite of his beloved Spurs, Greaves’s game was football stripped to its beautiful essence, embodying the art of propelling the ball in the net, never blasting, just placing. “He could pass to the stanchions” was the considered, approving verdict of his Spurs manager, the esteemed Bill Nicholson. Greaves was the goal machine behind the glory game.
Raised in West Ham country, Spurs were always Greaves’s true love, a passion forged from a young age, but sharper scouting saw him lured to Chelsea, scoring on his debut as a 17‑year-old at, of all places, White Hart Lane. “The finest first-ever League game by a young player I have seen,’’ Charles Buchan gushed in the News Chronicle.


Ted Drake’s Chelsea team were hardly precocious, so Greaves’s prolific scoring (132 in 169) is worthy of even more praise. He was only 20 years and 290 days when reaching 100 league goals, during a hat-trick against Manchester City on Nov 19, 1960. He scored four on his last appearance for cash-strapped Chelsea (against Nottingham Forest) before being sold to AC Milan for £80,000, gaining him £130 a week.
Annoyingly, Greaves’s spell in Italy is ritually denigrated. In fact he contributed nine goals in 12 league appearances for a team of such noted individuals as Gianni Rivera, Jose Altafini, Cesare Maldini and Giovanni Trapattoni hurtling towards Serie A honours. Greaves left Lombardy early, having failed to settle with his young family, but acquired an expertise of dealing with tricky defences.


And so to Spurs, for £60 a week. He scored in the 1962 FA Cup final win and joined in the limbo dancing at the post-match banquet. He always scored. Reminiscences of Greaves’s effortless finishing frequently occupy conversation when Spurs supporters of a certain vintage gather pre-match.
Anyone with access to footage of the European Cup-Winners’ Cup final of May 15, 1963, will fully appreciate why Greaves will always be treasured at Tottenham. Facing the favourites Atlético Madrid, Nicholson’s team appeared to have endured a grievous blow when Dave Mackay was ruled out through injury. Yet this proved one of those games when Greaves gave the lie to barbs about not being a team player. He started in typical fashion, scoring with a crisp half-volley from a Cliff Jones cross. He then drifted right, helping create the chance for John White to score.


Everyone at the Club wishes Jimmy Greaves a speedy recovery after he suffered a stroke yesterday.


Amen to that, a great player, Legend!

9pts from the last 3 games = 35 pts and safety... QPR, Newcastle and either Villa Leicester, Sunderland or Hull to go down.

...The Clarest are staying up!

I hope you stay up Stan, but 2 away games and two games against teams who are also desperate to stay up.......coupled with Burnley's lack of ability to score goals......it's going to take a miracle I think!

Scoring goals? Yes not our strong point lately... Come on Ings restore your early season form!

Your worse than we were Stan :)

I don't recognise that remark -):

Lol , you need another 4 points from your last 3 games to be as bad as us ... and that ain't going to happen.

And you haven't scored a goal for almost 2 months !

Possibly true, but that's history as we embark on the Great escape starting this Saturday away at Hull...it's not over till it's over -):

Lol , good luck mate but it's more fun in the Championship and the refs don't give every decision in favour of the top teams.

Didn't realise how biased they were until last season. Some of the decisions we had go against us including not sending off Gerrard or Rooney in the first half for red card tackles was atrocious.

Jimmy Greaves: Ex-England and Spurs striker out of intensive care

Two very competitive games last night.
2517

In the end Stan, Ings came good but the final outcome was out of your team's hands.

Congratulations to Chelsea........not a bad season at all......time to bid for Bale.....(at a discount I presume)....

Just a quick farewell to Gerrard....tremendous player.....England needed a few more like him to have made an impact.......I fear Liverpool might struggle next season.....I wouldn't like to say relegation candidates.....mid-table perhaps....but it's not looking good for them.....

(I do excellent obituaries as well).....(for a fee of course).....(;))

Mystery team Crystal Palace....capable of beating any of the big boys.....never underestimate them.....might end up with silverware one year....I can just imagine them winning the cup or something.....

Norwich back in the top tier ?.....the thing is to remain in the premiership......not easy for sides not on massive budgets....